Blueprint Fundraising

Slate magazine publishes the annual Slate 60 — charting the largest donations made in the US each year. In 2006 you needed to pledge at least $30M to even make the list. For the first time in a decade of tracking uber-gifts, they have split out pledges from donations made. A wise distinction, considering the number of high profile pledges that have been revoked in the last few years.

As part of their philanthropy coverage, they have some ideas on how to make philanthropy part of the American success story:

• Stop using terms like “charity” and “gift” that bring to mind handouts and cheque-writing. Words such as nonprofit, investment and problem-solving are more accurate and inspiring.
• Supplement the public-adulation carrot with the peer-pressure stick. Cross reference a Slate 400 with the Forbes 400 to create a new list: America’s 100 Stingiest (those who are worth more than $1 billion who contribute the smallest percentage of their net worth each year). Update this list in real time, online, and post it everywhere that the billionaires’ friends, colleagues, and neighbors will see it every day.
• Re-brand the “estate tax” as the “un-American activities tax,” the “Scrooge tax,” or the “keeping America great by motivating your lazy-ass kids tax.”

Check out the article for the rest of their ideas.

Have you noticed that many nonprofits use very poor quality imagery for their fundraising materials? Anything you’re designing, from a case for support to a brochure or website, needs fantastic photography. Giving is an emotional choice — words have to work awfully hard to match the impact of a well-chosen image. So what to do if all your photos suck or you’ve been using your only good shot in every brochure and proposal since 1994?

My favourite way to find photos is to search Flickr for photos that are Creative Commons-licensed, meaning that the photographer permits free usage within certain terms. With proper credit most shots will be appropriate for use by a nonprofit organization. The quality is amazing and you can search on any terms you like. Need to show sadness, happiness, kids, nature, a situation, place or even abstract idea? Flickr has it all.

Here’s a Flickr shot I found with the search term “happy.” It’s by “shoothead” and is called “like a record…”

Another option is to use stock photography — some is free and works really well (but don’t overdo it or your piece will look like a mutual fund ad). A good source for free stock photos is stock.xchng. You’ll find a huge library of good quality shots to choose from.

Here’s one more resource that is especially good for graphic designers: Flickr Color Selectr allows you to search Flickr’s Creative Commons-licensed shots within a specific colour range. If you want free photos that will compliment a particular colour this will give you all sorts of random and interesting options.

Wells Fargo is piloting a new way to give to charity, using their ATMs. I hope we’ll see this in Canada sometime soon (maybe through an innovator like Vancity?).

The bank’s San Francisco-area customers have the option to donate to one of six charities through ATMs. Donors can give up to $250. All gifts go to the charities anonymously.

Imagine being able to have an “option to donate” on the many electronic financial transactions we make every day. Adding a gift for the food bank when you pay for groceries by debit card or sending a donation to the United Way when you sign a credit card receipt would be so convenient. It’s not possilbe yet but maybe one day it will be.